Via the View from Iran blog comes this little morsel of wisdom in a post titled "Losing My Sense of Humor" (a la REM's Losing My Religion):
I have said this before, and I’ll say it again: the biggest lesson I have learned in Iran is that free speech is more important than democracy. Iranians all have opinions. They know how to talk, and they speak their minds. What they cannot do is organize. I can tell you what I think as long as I don’t tell three strangers what I think. I can disagree with government actions as long as I don’t try to get anyone else to act on my ideas. Talk is okay. Action is not. Free speech is action.
And the writer elaborates on this point in the comments:
Iran does not have free speech, it has people who speak freely. There is a big difference. Free speech is a practice that requires tolerance of dissenting opinion. Free speech entails action. Speaking freely means that you can say whatever you want as long as it does not matter to anyone: that is what Iran has.
Democracy without free speech is mob rule.
Comments